Daytona Double: Johnson wins 400 for 1st Daytona sweep since '82

Jimmie Johnson is just the fifth driver to walk off with the first-place trophies in both the February and July races — the first since Bobby Allison in 1982.

KEN WILLISSPORTS COLUMNIST

Jimmie Johnson made it look easy. He dominated the Coke Zero 400 Saturday night to deliver the first Daytona sweep (February's 500, July's 400) in 31 years. But while his windshield showed nothing but long stretches of asphalt with no competitors and, in the very end, a checkered flag, his rearview mirror was full of smoke, sparks and twisted metal. A rather orderly affair got violent toward the end with a handful of wrecks, including the rarity of seeing two Big Ones on the final lap before a crowd estimated at 90,000. “We knew it was coming when you get down to the end of these things,” Johnson said. NASCAR has been coming to Daytona International Speedway twice a year since 1959, and Johnson is just the fifth driver to walk off with both of the first-place trophies — the first since Bobby Allison in 1982. “That's really special, to say the least,” Johnson said. “Very proud of that. That's pretty awesome.” There was one fairly close call for Johnson in the waning laps, when Marcos Ambrose, running third, forced the issue and tried to wedge himself between Johnson and Kasey Kahne coming off Turn 2. Johnson survived the contact, but Kahne was sent into an out-of-control, headlong slide into the inside retaining wall. Before the mandating of soft walls and head-and-neck restraints, Kahne would've likely suffered something far worse than just a 32nd-place finish. “Be glad you were sitting in the stands and not in the cars, that's all I can say,” said Tony Stewart, who finished second while bidding hard for his fifth Coke Zero 400 victory. It was a wild finish to a race that was zipping along for the first 120-plus laps, on a day and evening that went off without a noticeable hitch. Given the variety of issues that have plagued events at Daytona over the past few years, that was welcome news. By design, Saturday's pre-race hours weren't lacking for interest and/or entertainment. The highlight was a one-hour concert by nine-time Grammy winner Sheryl Crow. Crow eventually gave way to the ceremonial driver introductions, which long ago became a production number at every NASCAR track. So far, so good, but many race fans (in the bleachers or at home in the recliner) have learned that their immediate pre-race moments can be badly flawed by what they perceive as a sub-par national anthem performance. The Speedway took no chances. Instead of a “name” act, the anthem duties fell to a Navy band that delivered a professional yet sparkling rendition, which was followed by acknowledgment and introduction of the four Medal of Honor recipients on hand for the weekend. As expected, mega-star Adam Sandler and his fellow grand marshals — Shaquille O'Neal and Kevin James — gave a starting command that was either entertaining or overly goofy, depending on your comedic tastes. As always, it all eventually has to clear the stage and make room for the core product, which in this case was 160 laps and 400 miles of auto racing. It didn't take long for things to look very familiar. The quarter-century of restrictor-plate racing at Daytona (and sister track Talladega) has been dominated by visions of large packs of cars racing in a formation tighter than their starting-grid parking assignments. Saturday night was more of that, largely featuring long, tight lines of two-by-two racing, only thinning into a single-file line after about 25 laps of green-flag racing. The one constant was Jimmie Johnson, reminding everyone why he's a five-time champion, a future first-ballot Hall of Famer and, without question, the man to beat — and not just at Daytona.